Dead Island 2

Dead Island made an impression back in the day with its 2006 E3 trailer. The game itself, released in 2011, wasn't as well received. It nor its 2013 standalone continuation, Dead Island: Riptide, ever piqued my interest. Especially after having played 2015's Dying Light, going to a more co-op focused zombie whacker without parkour didn't seem all that exciting. All these mentioned games were developed by Techland, though I think the Dead Island IP was always Deep Silver's.

Bone Silence

Bone Silence is the finisher for Alastair Reynolds's Revenger trilogy. The young ddult fiction aspect really started to be a thing in this one. The novel feels way too long with its nearly 700 pages (in the Finnish translation). Quite early on I was already wishing the story would just skip to the part where the mystery of the setting would finally be explained.

Marooned in Realtime

Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge is a loose sequel to The Peace War. The novel takes place millions of years after the events of the previous one: now few-hundred-strong remnants of humankind are on the brink of extinction. The novel's carrying narrative is a murder mystery but the science fiction was far more interesting. The genre's typically weak characterization leaves the investigation lukewarm.

The Club Dumas

I'm unsure what led me to read The Club Dumas (El Club Dumas in Spanish) by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. I was most likely -- for some reason -- reading the Wikipedia article on the 1999 Roman Polanski film, The Ninth Gate, and discovered that it was based on a novel. I probably thought it odd that the film had a completely different name and that made me think the novel worth checking out.

Clive Barker's Undying

Clive Barker's Undying was pretty much a pure impulse purchase for me. I saw it on sale on GOG and thought: "Why not play another early Unreal Engine first person shooter." I suppose the writer / film maker Clive Barker might have been on my mind due to the upcoming Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival. Barker's name on Undying (at least) is more than just him signing off a paper for the right to use his name because he's credited as the writer for the title. The game was developed by now-defunct EA Los Angeles (formerly DreamWorks Interactive before EA acquired them). In the last years before their closure, the studio was known as Danger Close Games (whose Medal of Honor (2010) single-player campaign I played through many years ago).

Claire de Lune

I suppose Claire de Lune was another lesson on to maybe consider twice or thrice before buying little known games. The game is (largely) functional but by no means great. All its short-comings compound the frustration of wanting to 100% the game for my average completion rate on Steam. That happening is currently looking improbable due to how sweaty the endeavor is.